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4 Comments (2 conversations)
bikesovercars
Thanks for the summary. I was bummed that the games were not televised or even with Conor McGahey on the radio call so this is really useful to get more insights about what actually happened. I know its only preseason but after such a long offseason I’m just stoked for any kind of hockey action to be back!!
AJ Haefele
AuthorIt is genuinely crazy they do this kind of thing every year
denvermaxd
Great recap, AJ.
It’s interesting that guys like Bardakov, who have been on a North American trajectory for a couple years, don’t seem to have invested much energy in learning English. It seems like it would be semi-critical to bolstering the chances of success, and by all accounts he is no wallflower. Maybe he’s just like Nuke—actually knows a lot more than he lets on, and just doesn’t really want to talk to journos.
AJ Haefele
AuthorWe always have an idea of which players are ducking the media with the language barrier excuse and which ones really don’t speak English. Bardakov is the latter.
To your first point, I completely agree. I can understand that before last season, he was viewed as a long shot to ever come to North America, but when he had his breakout season and the conversation changed, why didn’t he aggressively pursue learning hockey-related English? It seems so odd to me because it puts him just a little bit behind where he could be had he not encountered such a strong language barrier.